


Zingiberaceous

by PrussianInAmerica



Series: Vader Wouldn't Have Put Up with You [11]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cats, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-05-21 16:56:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6058930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrussianInAmerica/pseuds/PrussianInAmerica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kylo and Hux's adventures in pet ownership</p><p>EDIT 6/12/16: I'm an ass and everyone who follows anything I write should know that by now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Like Luke and Leia

**Author's Note:**

> _”Imagine person A wants to get a cat they see in a pet shop, but person B says that they are not having a cat. They argue for a bit but A doesn’t get the cat. The next day A comes home with the same cat and another one. When B reminds them that they said they didn’t want one, A responds with ‘I know! That’s why I bought 2!’”_ [otpprompts](http://www.otpprompts.tumblr.com)
> 
> I promised this one wouldn't be angst, and I'm happy to say I actually kept that promise. I've only planned three chapters of this, each with a different prompt, but if I find any other prompts I want to take a stab at I'll be sure to update the chapter count.
> 
> Let me know if you find any errors or mistakes.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~I'm very proud of the title of this one~~

Kylo was the one who wanted to go in. They were on their way to the library – Hux had some research to do, Kylo had some bugging Hux to do – when he veered off course and into the shop. Hux hadn't even seen him do it, just suddenly noticed there wasn't a huge dork next to him anymore.

He backtracked and found the other man with his face pressed against the glass fourth wall of the cage. The cage containing a little ginger cat. Kylo had the same stupid look on his face that he got whenever he found something he “needed in his life”.

“No.”

“But he’s so cute!” The man-child argued, staring up at Hux from his crouched position. “And he looks just like you!”

“He looks nothing like me, he’s a cat.”

“But he’s got your eyes, not to mention his fur color.”

“His fur is too light to be the same color as my hair. And we’re not getting a cat. There’s more to cats than cuddling them and calling them _cute_ , and I’m certainly not going to take all the responsibility for a pet _you_ wanted in the first place when you don’t want to.”

“Are you really going to make me sound like a child? Really?”

“I don’t know, _are_ you going to sound like a child?”

“I’ll take care of it, Hux! You’ll only have to do it when I’m not home, I promise!”

“You’re right, you sound like a child.”

“You’re the worst.”

“You do realize that cats have claws, right? Claws that would be perfect for tearing apart priceless Vader memorabilia. Is that something you really want to bring into your life?”

“Of course not.”

“Good.”

“We’ll get him declawed.”

Hux closed his eyes and reached up to scrub the heels of his palms over them. “Saving your Star Wars merch is not a good enough reason to have a cat declawed. Especially when you could just refrain from getting a cat all together.”

“But Hux–”

“We’re not getting a cat, Kylo. I’m going to the library, where you are welcome to join me if you allow me to actually get some work done.”

Kylo pouted as he watched his partner leave the shop. He looked back at the kitten, smiling as the ginger ball of fur pounced on a toy mouse. “Don’t worry, we’ll change his mind.” He pressed his fingers to the glass near the animal for a second before leaving to catch up to the other man.

* * *

Hux yawned and opened the front door. He’d been at the library since early that morning, and he really just wanted to sleep now.

Kylo had spent the last night pouting on his laptop, ignoring Hux. All over some kitten he’d seen for all of five minutes. He’d even gone so far as to put on his noise cancelling headphones when the older man began watching Game Grumps, just to keep his sulk going. He’d refused to go with Hux to the library that morning as well, pulling his blanket closer and not saying anything.

On his way to get something to eat that afternoon he’d passed the pet shop. He was tempted to stop in and see if the kitten was still there. He knew if it was he’d probably leave with it, though, just to make Kylo happy. The kitten may have been cute, but it’d just have to be cute for some other couple. Hux spent all his time researching for his dissertation, Kylo spent all his time… Doing Kylo things. He didn’t have time for a cat and his partner didn’t have the maturity to take care of one. Maybe in a few years.

So he went to lunch and returned to the library – and eventually home – empty handed. Now he was going to eat, organize his notes from today into the rest of his notes, try to get Kylo to respond to him, and then sleep. Kylo wasn’t in the living room, but he could hear the other man moving around at the other end of the house, so he wasn’t worried. He started making a simple dinner for the two of them, noticing the lack of new dishes in the sink that indicated the ill-tempered man hadn’t eaten.

It wasn’t until he kicked a small plastic ball across the kitchen that he started thinking something wasn’t quite right. He lowered the temperature on the food so it wouldn’t burn and followed the strange cooing sounds Kylo was making to their bedroom.

The first thing he noticed was probably not the first thing he should have noticed. Everything on Kylo’s “Wall of Vader” had been moved up about five feet. Some things had been taken down entirely. Heaven only knew where they were now. The next thing he noticed was that Kylo was stretched out on the floor, surrounded by kittens. 

Well, two. Two small ginger cats, virtual clones of each other. Each wore a collar. One blue, one red. The blue collared kitten was busy batting at Kylo’s hair while the one in red crawled all over the man’s body, occasionally getting its claws stuck in the fabric of his clothes. 

“Please,” The older man started as the red collared kitten attempted to pull free of the grip it had on Kylo’s hoodie. “Tell me you’ve stolen these animals and any minute the proper owners are going to come an demand them back.” 

Kylo giggled – _giggled_ – and pulled a lock of his hair away from the blue collared cat. “I could, but lying is a sin, Huxy.” 

“So is eating bacon but you still do that. What the hell, Kylo?” 

“I told you I wanted him.” 

“And I told you not to get him!” 

“You said, ‘We’re not getting a cat.’ So I got two kittens. They’re brother and sister, Hux, they really shouldn’t be separated.” He carefully sat up, giving the kitten on his back time to jump up to their bed, and lifted the kitten with the blue collar up to his shoulder. “Like Luke and Leia.” 

Trust Kylo to form a bond with kittens because of Star Wars. “You’re not going to name them after them, are you?” 

“No,” The kitten on the bed was staring at Kylo’s wall in a way that Hux would probably have warned him about if the man hadn’t brought home two kittens unexpectedly. “I’m naming this one, and you can name his sister.” 

“What are you naming him?” 

“I thought Huxley would suit him nicely.” 

And if Hux felt badly about the kitten he was to name jumping across the gap between the bed and Kylo’s wall, onto his replica of Vader’s cape, it left him when he heard that. Instead, he kept a straight face and stared right at Kylo.

“My name isn’t Huxley.” 

“I know, it’s his name. Huxy for short.” His partner looked far too pleased with himself. 

“Please don’t.” 

“Fine. Lee then.” 

It was about this time that the unnamed kitten’s claws got caught in the material of the cape, halting her upward journey. She managed to pull free quite quickly – at the expense of the fabric. The rip wasn’t loud (or even that big), but it was enough for Kylo to whip his head around to stare at her. Hux only wished he’d been recording when his partner let out an ungodly shriek of realization. Lee jumped from his owner’s shoulder onto the bed and darted to the headboard, his sister dropped from the cape and hid under the bed, and Hux turned to leave the room so he could finish dinner, snickering. 

“You know, I think I will name her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter probably won't be up for another day or two - possibly more, because I am shit at updating things when I need to - but I have started it, and it is coming. I actually started this one shortly before Millicent became a thing, if that gives you a clue as to how long it takes me to write these things. Unknown Number was a fluke.


	2. Jealous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee's sister gets a name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm am super sorry. I didn't mean for the gap between chapters to be so long. Life kind of got in the way and beat me up for awhile. Hopefully, the updates for _Radioactive Tragedy_ and _Hate Date_ (whose title I still hate) will be up next week, on schedule, though the new droid AU I was hoping to have ready for posting by the 25th may have to wait. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post the last chapter of this – which I haven’t even gotten a chance to start writing – but I hope the gap between now and then will be shorter than the last one was. I also hope it’s a bit longer than this. I kept trying to make this longer, but the story was having none of it.
> 
> _”Imagine Person A of your OTP buying a dog, cat, or whatever pet and naming it after Person B. Bonus: Person A is very loving and affectionate to the pet, often kissing it on the lips, thus making Person B jealous.”_

“Millicent Ren.”

“What?”

Kylo craned his neck to look over the back of the couch at Hux. He’d been reading an article about the possibility of more Star Wars movies – which they didn’t need, and if they needed anything it was a tv series following Jacen and Jaina Solo – on his tablet and petting Lee, who’d curled up next to his hip. Lee’s sister had stretched out across Hux’s end of the couch as much as a ten month old kitten could, glaring at the two of them until her preferred human returned. She was still unnamed, and it had been days. Kylo had taken to calling her “Hey!”, “Quit that!”, and the ever popular “How the fuck did you get up there?” in the absence of a real name.

“That’s her name. Millicent Ren.” Hux scratched behind one of the kitten’s ears as she jumped onto the back of the couch to be nearer to him.

“You don’t get to name her after me!” His partner threw an unimpressed look his way and Kylo flushed uncomfortably. “Lee isn’t named after you.”

“And Millicent isn’t named after you, you vain thing. I just believe that if anyone deserves the title it’s her.”

“She hasn’t earned it!”

“Well, it is _very_ hard to become part of a completely made up organization.”

“She doesn’t have the temperament for it!” Kylo’s voice raised just a bit too much for poor Lee to take and he scampered off the couch to hide at the other end of the house. The Sith wannabe pouted after him, but his sister didn’t even spare the other feline a disinterested glance.

“Really?” Millicent let out a pitiful whine at being so neglected by her favorite plaything and he scooped her into his arms, supporting her carefully against his chest. “Going off the only Knight of Ren in existence, she has the perfect temperament. Moody, prone to destroying things for no reason, and far too fit for someone who sits on their ass for two-thirds of their life.”

“I didn’t call Lee Huxy because _you_ didn’t want me to.”

“Because that’s a name you call me when you want to deliberately piss me off. I don’t believe I’ve ever called you Millicent. Have I, Ren?”

Ren pouted some more. “No.”

“Then it’s settled. Come, Millicent, I have notes to organize.” Hux turned away from the human Ren and made his way to their bedroom.

“She’s not allowed in there!”

“I’ll keep her away from your precious merch.”

* * *

When Kylo came to bed, hours later, Hux was stretched out on his back, propped against a pillow with Millicent on his chest.

“She’s not sleeping in here.”

“Lee sleeps in here.”

“Lee behaves.”

“Millicent will behave as well. Won’t you, Millie?” Hux made a strange sound with his lips and the kitten reached up to bump her head against them, which Hux kissed. Kylo stared. “See, she’s perfectly well behaved.”

“What the fuck was that?”

Hux shrugged a little, trying not to jostle Millicent. “I taught her to give kisses.”

“Why would you want kisses from a _cat_?”

“It’s cute. Don’t fuss, Kylo, I still love you.”

“I’m not fussing!” The human Ren growled, angrily changing into his sleep clothes. 

“You’re acting like a toddler. There’s definitely fussing. Right, Millie?” Hux cooed as he scratched behind the kitten’s ears.

“Stop talking to the cat!”

“You do the same thing with Lee, Kylo.”

“That’s different!” Lee trotted into the room and circled Kylo’s ankles, rubbing his face against the man’s calves.

“How?”

“It’s normal for me!”

“It’s not abnormal for me to take a liking to random assholes.”

“Name one.”

“You.”

_Damnit._

“So stop fussing and come to bed, Kylo.”

“I’m not fussing.” Kylo pouted as he got into bed and curled up to Hux’s side. He rested his head on the other man’s shoulder, glaring at the cat who seemed to have fallen asleep despite the yelling. Behind him, he felt Lee jump onto the bed and curl up on his pillow. Hux’s fingers carded though Kylo’s hair and he closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can't tell me a series about Jacen and Jaina Solo wouldn't be GREAT.
> 
> Also, my dad accidentally trained his cat Kirese to give him kisses like that. But she totally trained him to give her massive amounts of attention and affection even when he's busy with something else, so I guess it's an okay tradeoff. Like, he'll be typing on his laptop with one hand and petting her with the other. It's adorable to watch even though it's a little creepy sometimes.
> 
>  **NEW!** I have a new tumblr just for my fic, including sneak peeks and me making excuses about why updates are late [here](http://ianwritesfics.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
